{"id":3291,"date":"2026-04-01T16:45:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T14:45:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/?p=3291"},"modified":"2026-04-01T16:45:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T14:45:32","slug":"the-thorn-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/edinburgh-1880\/the-thorn-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"The Thorn Birds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Cornie\u2019s laboratory, Balthazar can see that a spirit is beginning to cross over to this side of the veil. No sooner has the nightmare poked its head through than Hecata orders it to obey him. Dark Wind<\/a>, as he is called, not wanting any trouble, readily agrees. He explains that there was an explosion of energy in the Umbra, followed by a swarm of new spirits, and finally a maelstrom drawing the spirits into its heart.
He cannot say when or where; time and space in the Umbra are different. Most of Edinburgh\u2019s spirits are now in hiding. And he is there to investigate: why? Who? And what has become of the spirits drawn into the maelstrom?
He senses that the artefact resonates somewhat like the explosion, but it\u2019s not quite the same.
He agrees to work with the coterie, but to do so he\u2019ll need a body. James<\/a>, ever helpful, quickly finds him one. And it is rename Ducky, as that goes down better with the uninitiated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meical receives a telegram from Cairo, informing him that the museum is closed due to flooding, that Ardeth<\/a> belongs to a rival cult, and that a new tomb has recently been discovered.
Cornie, meanwhile, receives a telegram from Oxford, stating that Mrs Adler<\/a> has lost her position at the Clarenton laboratory and is trying to contact Oliver Lodge in Birmingham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coterie decides to set a trap for Adler; Baltazhar and Cornie will invite her to discuss business, whilst the rest of the group will go back to her workshop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The living room is ready, the table is set, and the evening can begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adler arrives with his assistant, Professor Rathe<\/a>. The scientist\u2019s pendant continues to pulse. They talk about Oxford, competition, self-experimentation, and the difficulty of getting new ideas accepted. For the most part, she remains evasive, not wanting to talk too much about her difficulties. Then Cornie, using her Presence, manages to create a rift between the two guests. Rathe admits that they are part of a club of high-level scientists who want to shape the future. Adler plays this down, saying it\u2019s just a network of like-minded people. She nudges her assistant.
To explore this club’s concept further, Balthazar takes Adler to the library to show her an original Newton manuscript. One thing leading to another, she launches into a passionate discourse on science and research. Left to his own, Rathe recovers somewhat from his infatuation with the Toreador and continues along the lines of the club being just a network.
It is at this point that Dr Beathan \u2018the thorn in the side\u2019 Murie<\/a> makes his entrance. He is taken aback by his prot\u00e9g\u00e9e\u2019s secrecy, but agrees to Balthazar\u2019s suggestion to open his laboratory to the two scientists; besides, he has plenty of guinea pigs. This brings the evening to a swift close with an offer that is not quite what the coterie would have hoped for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the electricity pavilion. Security has been stepped up, but nothing the Cainites can\u2019t handle. However, they\u2019ll need to use Saira<\/a>\u2019s opening rune on the door, which has been upgraded.
Inside, the android spots Meical, who slips away quietly whilst Pidge searches for the user manual for this nuisance. Finding it, his inner beast urges him to challenge the machine. A well-placed cut with a cutter renders the android effectively harmless. The vampires and Ducky quickly search the room; they find items bearing a recurring logo, and Ducky takes a container that was lying below the artifact, containing spirit essence or something of the sort.
Having made off with the loot, they flee.
Security is going to be fly at!<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The coterie makes a new ally and takes their investigation into Adler further<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-edinburgh-1880"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3291"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3298,"href":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3291\/revisions\/3298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/msika.fr\/vampires\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}